Villa's world still in limbo

By the end of this week, Martin O'Neill is set to be the 14th, and possibly last, man appointed manager of Aston Villa by Doug Ellis but the club last night poured cold water on suggestions that his arrival would be confirmed today.

By the end of this week, Martin O'Neill is set to be the 14th, and possibly last, man appointed manager of Aston Villa by Doug Ellis but the club last night poured cold water on suggestions that his arrival would be confirmed today.

The Ulsterman is seemingly the only candidate in the frame to succeed David O'Leary and is expected to be in place before the club start their pre-season tour of Holland and Germany at the weekend. But Villa fans anxious to get their man are likely to have to wait at least another 24 hours.

If and when the former Celtic manager is unveiled, the chances of him working with Ellis for much longer continue to recede following news that a fifth - American-based - consortium has entered the running to relieve the 82-year-old of his ownership.

Typically Villa, who are bound by Stock Market regulations, would not comment on the speculation but they restated the well-known fact that Ellis is continuing to meet potential suitors interested in taking over at the club.

Interestingly, O'Neill's appointment will reduce the number of buyers by one after Nicholas Padfield's team announced they would pull out because they want to bring in their own management dream-ticket of Michael Laudrup and John Jensen.

But if there is another group trying to take over at Villa Park, it could put the chairman in a position where he can preside over an auction confident that he has appeased supporters by delivering the manager most of them want.

Meanwhile, lost among the debris of the battle for Villa is the career of Mathieu Berson who has been told by the club he must put his future on hold to find out if he is wanted by the new manager.

Two years into Berson's career at Villa Park, both he and the club's fans are still waiting for it to start, having made a handful of appearances in his first campaign and then spent the entirety of the last on loan with French side Auxerre.

That has been a cause of frustration for the midfielder, who became increasingly isolated by O'Leary, but not quite so difficult as being told he has to hang on to find out if the Irishman's successor wants to keep him.

That puts him in the same boat as the supporters, anxiously waiting to hear if O'Neill is indeed the new man in control - a situation with which the 26-year-old's agent is not happy. "It is not an easy situation for Mathieu because this is his life," his representative, Olivier Jouanneaux, said.

"Knowing that, for the moment, he might not play at the club but, at the same time, they do not want him to go is not a good situation.

"He has always done his best and never complained. When he has played, he has played quite well and he has two years left on his contract."

After chasing Berson's signature for most of the summer of 2004, O'Leary finally got his man for £1.7 million but virtually immediately claimed he was not ready for the rigours of Premiership football.

With the emergence of Steven Davis and O'Leary's faith in Gavin McCann, the former Nantes man has had very little opportunity to prove otherwise although, as Jouanneaux intimated, when he did have a run of games early in 2005, he revealed himself to be a composed distributor, more than capable of adapting to English football.

One man who looks to be on his way out is striker Kevin Phillips, who is attracting former club Sunderland. The Wearsiders' boss, Niall Quinn, confirmed his interest but said any deal is on hold for now.

Quinn is keen to draft in new players as he tries to get the Black Cats back in the Premiership at the first attempt and Phillips is a player he would like on board. Phillips earned cult status at the Stadium of Light and Quinn would like to be reunited with a striker he played alongside. However, the power struggle looks to have scuppered the move for now.

"I have made a couple of enquiries about Kevin but the situation at Villa is that nothing's happening until their ownership and managerial situation is resolved," Quinn said. "Kevin is somebody who I don't think would come here and go back to scoring 30 goals.

"I don't see him doing something like that but I've talked about standards of professionalism, improving yourself to play to the maximum of your strengths. There's a guy who, in training, just is the most impressive man I've ever worked with at that level."